Shopping & Fabric Therapy

I'm back from shopping during this Black Friday and the goodies that I got has me saying - "Injured finger, schminger?--No way!!"

Looking at all the fabrics and all of the bright and wonderful colors really did help in making me forget the pain. HA! even though I can't really do much sewing or quilting, I was able to justify my insane shopping spree. It also helped getting 3 more quilt orders--busy, busy, busy, but a little extra mula in my pocket.

So I explained what happened to my poor lil' finger in my previous post. Now i've got photos....the projects that caused the pain, and the items I picked up to help dull the pain haha.

First I was able to get the protective gloves so there will not be anymore sliced fingers.

I picked these up at Joann's and they are priced at $24.99--really helpful... it's already helping and just knowing that I have them, they have taken out some of my fears of using the rotary cutter again.

Now.... the projects that started it all:

So I loved how they turned out, and these to me seem more apprealing than just a plain old crayon roll. The patterns can be found for purchase in etsy....the sellers names are: jcasa & auburn studios.

Now for some eye candy......--the great deals that were going on at Joann's and at my local favorite quilt shop, Webfabrics.

If you haven't noticed, the theme this time around was 'kids' anything kid friendly prints for boys and girls. I also managed to pick up several yards of Woodland Bloom fabric to use as my backing for another quilt I will be making--perhaps this time I may keep it for myself. So these fabrics will most likely turn into more art cases and also various baby items, like quilts, bibs, baby blocks and more. Of course I will share the end results when I have completed them.

So that's it for now....this is what would have been for my Show & Tell Thursday--I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving for those that celebrate it. Thank you all for the kind words and get well wishes :)

CAUTION!!--NOT FOR THE WEAK STOMACHS....

I HAD A ROTARY CUTTER ACCIDENT.....

Well....where do I start? A lot of you as you all might continue to read this may start to wonder and think to yourselves..."Why in the heck is she posting about this?" Well to me, knowledge is power and I am a firm believer in learning from our mistakes as well as the mistake of others.

****I am almost embarrassed to tell what happened to me. One would think that for as long as I have been sewing, I would know better, but the pain and the throbbing of my finger and the amount of time it has taken me to write these two small paragraphs so far have surpassed and washed away any slight of embarrassment I may have felt earlier.

Let me begin here......I was sewing and trying to create a lot of little items to sell for the Dec. 6th craft fair. I just finished making a traveling art case and after feeling delighted with the end results and loving how quick it was to complete, I was on my way to starting another one.

Well-- as I was cutting my main piece of fabric and using my rotary cutter to cut the pieces out as I always do- as if it was the most natural thing for me and never really had to think much or pay too much attention when cutting---well, I applied too much pressure to my ruler and during mid-cut my finger slipped off the ruler and the blade ran across the tip and nail of my middle finger...OUCH!

I didn't realize how deep it was....to much blood was oozing out......thank goodness I had my buddy Kat to call and she calmed me down and helped me figure out what to do in order to stop the bleeding...well it took forever to stop, I was so exhausted and fell asleep and forgot about the pain......when i woke in the morning.....this is what I saw:

Be thankful the picture didn't come out too clear. My top part of my nail was almost completely off and my finger swelled up quite a bit. Time to go to urgent care...so that is where my Thanksgiving morning was spent. Thankfully, nothing that can't be fixed or healed in a couple of days....here is my lovely finger on it's way to healing:


I've always heard of how dangerous the rotary cutters are, but always tossed that notion aside. I always thought I was always careful and that it would not happen to me, but boy was i wrong. So the lesson here?-- go slow when cutting with the rotary cutter, make sure hands sit in the middle of the ruler a good distance from the cutting area, and apply even pressure.

Tomorrow is Black Friday, I will be heading out to Joann's for some great deals--and guess what I will also be adding to that list?---Fon's & Porter's Safety cutting gloves.--I am unable to sew or quilt right now , and it's been tough typing this all with one hand, so I may not be posting much of anything--I can't even knit :*(

So if you in the future may wonder why the lack of posts.....this is why. Please be careful when cutting. You don't want this to happen to you. It hurts like heck.

Show and Tell Thursday

First, let's start with my photos for show & tell Thursday:

I tea-dyed some of my fabrics

I made a doodle girl doll from Chocolate Lollipop fabric line

I made a John doll to go with my doodle girl

I made a Jo doll

I made a quilt for a customer

This is my pieced backing for the quilt

I finally received my Spare Change Swap squares

Not much quilting or sewing has been getting done this week, my kids all decided to take turns getting sick-- so sick kids mean--lots of cleaning--I'm always behind disinfecting everything-really, no sewing, no quilting--and no blog posting, but since my husband is back and he had the past 2 days off I did manage to find some time to satisfy my urge to sew/quilt. I made some adorable dolls that are addicting! If you haven't seen them check them out..... I got them from here: http://www.bitofwhimsyprims.etsy.com/ . They really are quick and easy--you can make dolls in less than an hour. I've almost just about purchased all her doll patterns--I know, call me crazy, but I'm so addicted to the softies and plush dolls. I've built up my felt stash and also picked up some chenille and minky dots to make the animals...I can't wait to see how that turns out. Do any of you know where else to get patterns? I've been on the hunt and haven't found much so either Free or to buy--I WANT THEM ALL!

For the fabric dye-ers out there-- QUESTION !?! I just started to dye my own fabric, well I only did 3 and that was just using tea. I need to know the rules out there of what kind of fabric works best. I used one material--I don't know the material, some poly blend that took the tea so quickly and acheived the color I wanted so quickly....I took pictures of what I ended up with.(SEE ABOVE) The darker of the 3 is the unknown fabric so I was just wondering if you all can tell me which material is best to use for this? I of course am gonna use this new dyed material for the rabbit doll pattern and the bear :) I know I can buy it, but making it and having the control of the shade is SO MUCH BETTER! Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

I also finally finished a quilt order....whew! Nothing like speed quilting :) It seems as though 2 is the magic number. However this quilt went by very quickly that I could have finished in one day, but I needed to sleep. The pattern is called Lodge Pole Pine from Eleanor Burns "Quilts Through the Season" book. The customers choice....I'm glad she picked it, I would have never picked this as one to make, and I love how it turned out, I'm going to have to make another one for myself.

So that's my post for the day. I've got some pretty big projects coming up that required the help of some of my favorite fabric designers --more info. about that coming soon. So off I go, the baby's calling. Happy Crafting!

Quilt Giveaway Winner

It's finally come, I've been waiting so long for this opportunity to announce the lucky winner of my Quilt Giveaway, and hopefully make someone's day. I was so touched by the number of wonderful comments many of you had left for me!

When I stopped at midnight there was a total of 424 COMMENTS!! WOW! I won't ever touch Old Red Barn Co. comments :P but this was a great number for me! THANK YOU ALL! You all really have made my week.

I was also amazed and proud of the number of people who loved my quilt.....thankfully, aside from getting my orders done, I was also busy creating the pattern for those that would be interested in purchasing it themselves and trying their hand in making a quilt out of love. You will have the opportunity to purchase the Hard Copy and have that sent to you via USPS or receive the PDF form for instant gratification! Here's a preview of the pattern:

And now, to announce the winner! I really wish I had the ability to make all those who left a comment here a quilt. I hate only picking one, but that was the rules. Although there were 424 comments, There were a couple that had duplicate comments, so those were omitted and then the tallying began. For each person that left a comment, I did visit your blog to see what you had up, either blogging about it, and or putting the pic in your sidebar. You would have earned a maximum of 4 entries. I went about it the old school way and placed your name on paper and tallied the number of entries. I tallied everyones up and came up with an actual # range to enter into Random.org, and well from 403 comments, it tallied in actuality 764 entries. Your name each had a number next to it. For example, if you were #20 in leaving a comment, and you posted about the giveaway in your blog and then added the pic, then you held comments 20-24. So this was my method used for everyone.......and...........through........random.org......... the lucky winner is:

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:87
Timestamp: 2008-11-14 06:57:23 UTC

NUMBER 87 is Jennifer of rundpinne.blogspot.com

Congratulations Jennifer ms. Knitting mom of 3, please contact me either by email so I can get your color-scheme and have an early Present out to you!

I'm sorry I couldn't pick everyone, but have no fear!---There is another quilt giveaway coming soon! If you scroll down and read my previous post you will see the picture of the quilt I will be giving away--- It was really hard for me to say only 1 person won, so that quilt-top will be split in half, quilted and batted for a generous size Crib or could easily be Lap Size--2 WINNERS this time! I can't wait for that. Please add me to your favorites or follow my blog to watch for that giveaway.

Remember, the pattern for Brenda's Quilt, I've titled "With All My Heart" is now available in my etsy shop. Visit http://www.thehandmadequilt.etsy.com/ or you can also click on the link in my sidebar. Thank you all again! I look forward to reading more of your comments and reading your blogs!!

Possibly a new quilt to giveaway?

My giveaway is still going on---it will be closing at midnight on Thursday, and I will be picking a winner Friday morning....so if you haven't signed up--Hurry!! I've already found some amazing blogs through here and everyone of you have been very sweet and kind with your comments. I really am touched by all of your 'kind words'. Thank you.

I've enjoyed having this giveaway so much so that I've been playing with the idea of another one. This is the quilt-top that I pieced together quickly with some vintage fabrics I found hiding in one of my plastic bins to be forgotten. I spent all Sunday morning piecing the soft neutral colors of fabric together and ended with a very nice soft combo. Just really soothing to look at. The picture does not give this quilt-top any justice.

You'd think after working and finishing my last quilt in record time, I would be relaxing and taking a very needed break.....WRONG. This quilt is large enough for me to possibly break into 4 crib size quilts, if not maybe 2 good sized cribs.....opening it up to the possibility of 2 winners this time. This was made completely out of old vintage fabrics that still carry that scent of 'old'--I LOVE THAT SMELL :) Keep checking back as I may turn this into a giveaway..... Let me choose my winner first from my current one and finish theirs before this one gets going. My goal would be to have that giveaway just in time for two of you to receive a special Christmas Present from me. Gotta quilt this and add batting to it eventually.

On another note, I promised several folks that I would have my pattern of my giveaway quilt ready by Friday at my etsy store. I never realized how hard it would be to put it in writing and making sure that it would be easy to understand and follow as well as Beginner and Pro friendly. I've come up with 2 different patterns for my heart quilt, and I'm really aiming to have it by Friday....here's what I've got so far. I definitely prefer working it out on graphing paper and then transferring it to computer when I'm done.

Can you see the heart in there?? :) A little optical illusion for ya.

As if that wasn't enough, I added an apron to my list earlier in the week, I kept forgetting to post about it here, but it is going to be added to my etsy shop and available for purchase. My very own design....I didn't really follow a pattern for this and although I wasn't trying to go for a holiday theme, it kinda looks like it, or Rasta colors.....yeah man. I made up a matching pot holder to go along with it. --My very first apron:

So that concludes, the projects that went on in my home this weekend. I can't wait to pick a winner and be able to tell someone they won a quilt and possibly make their day? What did you do?

Brain Fart

I love yo yo's I really do. I love making them just as much as looking at them.

I was having a brain fart when drawing up my patterns and figuring out the measurements so I took a break and decided to re-organize the stash. I found some more stuff I had forgotten about. I went to several auctions this past summer and picked up some really great things. There was one particular auction that I attended that had a gi-normous stash of vintage fabrics and you better believe I bid on that baby to death. Of course I won, but true to my nature, I put it away and forgot about it....well during my break from designing patterns as I was looking for something else to make while re-organizing, I came across this bag of pre-cut circles--all vintage fabrics....

I suddenly felt the urge to make some yo-yo's. I pulled out the X'mas looking fabrics and stopped when I got to this point.

I really could spend all day and making these, but certainly not without the help of these.... if you don't have them yet, you really should get them..... it just makes it THAT much easier. (cue the staples commercial here.)

I really did use these. I like to keep them in the plastic cause I'm pretty anal about certain things... especially about keeping things where they belong. Don't ask.

So after looking at the yo-yo's I started to have another brain fart..... really this mommy brain is killing me! I can't think of what to do, there is no way I'll make a quilt completely out of yo-yo's it just doesn't appeal to me, and I've already done a flower garden quilt out of yo-yo's and also placed them on a bag..... so what can I do with them? This is where I would be asking you all for some ideas.

Well in the mean time, the brain fart I had passed for a moment and I thought I came up with a genius idea-- I thought- "Let me turn these into hair barrettes! and make some matching dresses or x'mas outfits for my girls!"

I placed a ribbon and everything, the only thing left to do was hot glue to to the barrette piece.

Then I realized something..... There was a major flaw to my idea:

Notice anything?

Well let me tell you..... my girls hardly have any hair.... HOW THE HECK WILL THEY USE THESE BARRETTES?

So back to the drawing board and me asking you for some help. What can I do with my yo-yo's? I'll have to post back here later to show you the final product.

A Good Thing or Bad Thing?

A new Joann's opened up closer to me the past couple of weeks. I have to say I've been over there pretty much a total of 10 times out of 14 since they opened?! Okay so maybe that was a little exaggeration there, but seriously, it seems as if I don't have a life other than being home with my children and sewing & quilting during breaks, so when I get the chance to get out, I get out and head out to my quilt shop and local fabric chain stores. Some of you said after reading my comments when I took you through a tour of my sewing/craft areas that it was a lot....to be honest..... I really don't feel like I have enough. What was the new addition over the weekend? Well here it is.....

I picked up some really girly and boyish fabrics to turn into kid projects.

These will become aprons at some point....the fabric for my holiday apron swap is in there :)

The four on the left were from a quilt shop....I am definitely loving the Art Gallery Fabrics.

The 4 on the right? Will be another apron.

I definitely had to pick up some more perle cotton floss for some more embroidery work. I'm thinking about doing another embroidery quilt....something other than flowers.

& of course.....more books!! I am definitely loving these! If you don't have them yet, definitely pick them up. For my fellow apron lovers...I'm a new apron lover....any good apron books out there? I think I grabbed every apron pattern from McCall's, & Simplicity that Joann's had....I'm wondering if there are anymore books you all might recommend? I want it..... oh yeah, and Yaya, I found my vintage apron patterns! Yeah! I'll be sending those over soon :)

So, having this new Joann's a lot closer seems to be hurting my wallet a lot more, but I've definitely got some great stuff from it--I still haven't figured out if it's a good or bad thing.

Win This Quilt (My Giveaway)

Hooray for Giveaways!! --
**I WILL ANNOUNCE THE WINNER ON FRIDAY Nov. 14.*** pls. cont. to sign in till then.

As I mentioned in my last post, I was asked to make a quilt in honor of a neighbor/friend who unselfishly donated her bone marrow to a stranger. To read the story, Click Here. My neighbors wanted to pay me for making the quilt and also for completing it on such short notice, but how could I accept any money for it knowing the reason behind it all? The women and other neighbors had gone around helping to collect money for their family and to also help pay for the quilt, but I rejected the money they offered and in turn gave the quilt to 'Brenda' as a gift from myself and everyone that came up with the idea to give a quilt and for those that cared enough to stop by and wish Brenda well.

Why give it away? As I said earlier, I was so moved by their actions and also by Brenda's generosity and selfless attitude, I too wanted to do something special,plus I love to share and consider myself to be a very giving person.

In the spirit of giving, I would like to offer this quilt for a special home. It will not be the one pictured, but it will be in the same pattern and in the color scheme of your choice. The wait is finally over. I didn't post pictures in my post about Brenda's quilt, because I wanted to save it for this giveaway. Here it is.

This was Brenda's Quilt:

Sorry it was windy earlier today, and I only had a few more short moments before the quilt would be taken so I had to hurry and snap what I could.

This took me 2 long gruesome nights, and an hour this afternoon to make.....here are some progress pics I took earlier.

Just the quilt-top. I finally finished piecing this baby at 2am on Sunday morning.

Ready for quilting. I spent all Sunday night quilting until 3am...my hands still hurt from gripping the quilt-top so hard. If you see an empty space in the middle, it was on purpose, it there so the well-wishers can leave their mark.

Binding was added and now a complete quilt!

Now just a couple more photos for me as a memory.

Can't you just imagine this quilt in you favorite quiet area, sitting room? or perhaps you knit like myself and have your special corner for knitting. I place my special quilts on this rocker....

Do you want a quilt just like this? Then ENTER! The winner will receive a quilt similar to the one above, but in the color scheme of your choice. The lap quilt measures 64"x64". The winner will be chosen on November 14.

Entering is really easy. Anyone can enter even non-bloggers and from wherever in the world, just be sure to leave me a good email to contact you if you are the winner. Make sure you leave a comment in this area good for one entry. Want to add more chances? Take the picture below, copy and paste and place in your sidebar, that's good for another entry. For two more entries, post about it on your blog. I do have a method of keeping track of all of your entries :)

Make sure you provide me with the link to your blog if you decide to post about or email me so that I can read it and tally up your entries. The winner will be selected using Random.org. I DO read every comment that comes my way and make it a point to visit yours as well so, GOOD LUCK everyone! Spread the word! I wish you all the best!